Domus · Holly · Tudor

Holly & Tudor

A certified American chain,
and the Tudor line to the English crown

The families of Dorothy Kathryn Holly: Irish Hollys who reached Brooklyn by 1854; a DAR-certified descent from a Revolutionary patriot; and the Tudors of Virginia and North Carolina.

Read the lines

Evocation · rose and crown · NBP2 rendering. Arms of the name Holleys (Holly) are recorded in Burke’s General Armory (1884) and shown on this page; nothing shows they were granted to or borne by our Holly family.

History · HollyFrom Ireland to Cambridge

Generation 5
John Holly Tree-recorded
1826, Ireland – 1854, Brooklyn
The immigrant.
Generation 4
John E. Holly Tree-recorded
1847 – 1885
Generation 3
William Francis Holly Tree-recorded
1882 – 1934
Generation 2
Norman Joseph Holly × Frances Elizabeth Tudor Documented
1910 – 1975 · she 1914 – 2006
Certified in the DAR application.
Generation 1
Dorothy Kathryn Holly Documented
She married Felipe Eduardo Alvelda in 1984.

An earlier arrival: John Holly, Virginia, 1650

Published index A John Holly is recorded as landing in Virginia in 1650, arriving from Ireland. Source: P. William Filby & Mary K. Meyer, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index: A Guide to Published Arrival Records of about 500,000 Passengers Who Came to the United States and Canada in the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries. 1982–1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1985), ISBN 0-8103-1795-8. The index points to published arrival lists; we have not yet seen the underlying list, and the volume and page number for this entry are not yet recorded.

Under investigation Is he our ancestor? We don’t know yet. Our documented Holly line begins with John Holly, born in Ireland in 1826, who died in Brooklyn in 1854. That birth is 176 years after the 1650 landing, and no record we hold connects the two men. Sharing a name and an Irish origin is a lead, not a link. We keep the two men apart until a documented chain joins them. The 1650 record is an arrival, not a grant of arms: it gives the Holly family no coat of arms.

Arms: an honest gap

Gap We asked for the oldest arms from an original Holly grant, and we haven’t found a grant to this Holly family. Our Holly line begins with John Holly, born in Ireland in 1826 (no county recorded), who died in Brooklyn in 1854. Burke’s General Armory (1884) has no entry under the spelling Holly. It does record arms under Holleys, and we show those as arms of the name Holly, in the seal above and in the arms below. Its other near headings, Holles, Hollis and Hollys, are different families. The Polish Holly clan arms on Wikimedia also belong to another family. No grant has been tied to John Holly’s own family, so the Holleys shield is arms of the name only: nothing shows it was granted to or borne by our Holly ancestors.

Detail · DARA certified patriot line

Patriot
James Daniels × Rebecca Travis Adderton Documented
c.1755 Northumberland Co., VA – 1817 Rowan Co., NC · DAR ancestor A029613
William Stokes × Elizabeth Daniel Documented
1784–1864 · 1784–1855, Rowan / Stanly Co., NC
Arnold Parker × Lucinda Stokes Documented
1824–1908 · 1826–1897
Julius Caesar Parker × Frances Dry Documented
1855–1939, Stanly Co., NC
John Abram Tudor × Dora Louise Parker Documented
1872 Patrick Co., VA – 1939 Danville · she b. 1884 Stanly Co.
Norman Joseph Holly × Frances Elizabeth Tudor Documented
Applicant
Dorothy Kathryn Holly Documented

Great Seal of the United States. A national emblem, not family arms. Public domain.

DAR-certified This chain is taken exactly as written in the certified DAR application. Every generation, from the applicant to the patriot James Daniels, was accepted by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

History · TudorFrom the Carolinas to the English crown

Dorothy Kathryn Holly’s mother, Frances Elizabeth Tudor, heads a Tudor line that the family traces through Virginia, London, Essex and Denbighshire to the house of Tudor itself. Here it is end to end, sixteen generations, as recorded.

Generation 2
Frances Elizabeth Tudor Documented
1914 – 2006
Mother of Dorothy Kathryn Holly. Certified in the DAR application; obituary and 1930 census in the tree.
Generation 3
John Abram Tudor Documented
1872 – 1939
Certified in the DAR application (born 1872, Patrick Co., VA). The Ancestry tree gives about 1880; the DAR date is used.
Generation 4
William Abraham “Abie” Tudor Tree-recorded
1848 – 1887
Dated in the tree; no source attached.
Generation 5
John A. Tudor Tree-recorded
b. 3 Jun 1819, Virginia – d. 10 Feb 1900
Dated in the tree; no source attached.
Generation 6
Robert Tudor Documented · family
b. 1793, Brunswick Co., Virginia – d. 1844
Generation 7
Robert Tudor Documented · family
b. 1755, Sussex Co., Virginia – d. Sep 1827
Generation 8
Henry Tudor Documented · family
b. 1720, Surry Co. (later Sussex), Virginia – d. Jun 1771
Generation 9
John Tudor Sr. Documented · family
b. 2 Feb 1690, Westminster, London – d. 1 Apr 1721
The tree gives his death place as Oxford, Granville Co., North Carolina, a county formed in 1746. Recorded as entered.
Generation 10
Captain John Richard Tudor Documented · family
b. 1653, Chester, Cheshire – d. 8 Nov 1708
Generation 11
Captain Richard Owen Tudor Documented · family
b. 1629, Harwich, Essex – d. 1690
Generation 12
Owen Davis Tudor Documented · family
b. 1585, Braintree, Essex – d. 4 Feb 1661
Generation 13
Owen ap Tudor Documented · family
b. 1550, Llanynys (“Liewenny”), Denbighshire – d. Jul 1604
Generation 14
Robert Fychan ap Tudor II Documented · family
b. 1519, Llanefydd, Denbighshire – d. 1556
The deepest paternal Tudor in the tree. It gives no parents for him.
The joint · by marriage
⚭ Jane de Velville Documented · family
b. 1514, Beaumaris Castle, Anglesey – d. 1555 (as recorded)
The tree joins the crown line here, through Robert Fychan ap Tudor II’s marriage to Jane, daughter of Sir Roland de Velville. Read this step with care: the same tree enters Owen ap Tudor (generation 13) as the son of Robert’s other wife, Rose Hammer, and records no children of Robert and Jane. Published history names Jane’s child by Tudur ap Robert Vychan of Berain as Katheryn of Berain (b. 1534/5; Dictionary of Welsh Biography). The blood link through Jane is the family’s assertion, not a record we can show.
Generation 15 · via Jane
Sir Roland de Velville Published history
c. 1471/4 – 25 Jun 1535, Constable of Beaumaris Castle
Well attested in his own right (Weir 1999; Beauclerk-Dewar & Powell 2008). He was reputed to be an illegitimate son of Henry VII; historians have not settled the paternity.
Generation 16 · the crown
Henry VII, King of England Documented · family
b. 28 Jan 1457, Pembroke Castle – d. 21 Apr 1509 · reigned 1485 – 1509
The English monarch this recorded chain reaches. The tree also holds Edward III, John of Gaunt and the house of York, but it does not connect them to Henry VII, so we don’t extend the chain past him.

Arms of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond: quarterly France modern and England within a blue bordure charged with gold fleurs-de-lis and martlets alternately, painted with raised gold leaf — **The Tudor arms: Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond (d. 1456), Henry VII’s father.** The royal arms, quarterly France modern and England, differenced by a bordure azure charged with fleurs-de-lis and martlets or, alternately: marking his kinship to his half-brother Henry VI. They were Edmund’s own arms, not arms borne by every Tudor. Blazon as given in the RCHME Westminster Abbey armorial (“Richmond, Edmund, Earl of”). Image supplied by the family, painted here (NBP2) with the supplied image as the exact reference, and checked charge by charge: three fleurs-de-lis in each French quarter, three lions in each English quarter, sixteen charges on the bordure.

Royal arms of England in Henry VII’s reign: quarterly France modern and England, painted with raised gold leaf — **The royal arms at the top of the chain: Henry VII, 1485 – 1509.** Quarterly, 1 and 4 azure three fleurs-de-lis or (France modern); 2 and 3 gules three lions passant guardant or (England). No bordure: the undifferenced arms of the king. Painted (NBP2) from the shield in a 1487 illumination by Hugues de Lembourg, made as a gift for Henry VII (British Library, Royal MS 20 E VI, f. 9v), shown below with its red dragon and white greyhound supporters. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Commons files it under Henry VIII, but the 1487 date puts it in Henry VII’s reign. These are the crown’s arms.

The 1487 illumination: royal arms of England with a red dragon and a white greyhound as supporters, royal helm and lion crest — **The royal arms at the top of the chain: Henry VII, 1485 – 1509.** Quarterly, 1 and 4 azure three fleurs-de-lis or (France modern); 2 and 3 gules three lions passant guardant or (England). No bordure: the undifferenced arms of the king. Painted (NBP2) from the shield in a 1487 illumination by Hugues de Lembourg, made as a gift for Henry VII (British Library, Royal MS 20 E VI, f. 9v), shown below with its red dragon and white greyhound supporters. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Commons files it under Henry VIII, but the 1487 date puts it in Henry VII’s reign. These are the crown’s arms.

Documented · family The family has told us this line to the English crown is documented, and the whole chain is drawn here as the family records it in its Ancestry tree. We mark how much each step rests on. Generations 2–3 are certified by the DAR, and 4–5 are dated in the tree without sources. From generation 6 up, the only citation is “Ancestry Family Trees”, meaning other users’ trees. The joint at Jane de Velville and Sir Roland’s royal paternity are the two places where the recorded line goes further than published history. We haven’t invented any link to close either gap.

Arms of the names

Arms of the name Tudor (before 1485), as recorded in Rietstap’s Armorial général — **Tudor**Arms of the name Tudor (before 1485), as recorded in Rietstap’s *Armorial général*Modern AI-assisted rendering after Odejea’s drawing, Wikimedia Commons; licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.

The royal arms of the House of Tudor, as recorded in Burke’s General Armory, 1884 (secondary) — **Tudor, royal**The royal arms of the House of Tudor, as recorded in Burke’s *General Armory*, 1884 (secondary)Modern AI-assisted rendering after Sodacan’s drawing, Wikimedia Commons; licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.

Arms of the name Holleys (Holly), as recorded in Burke’s General Armory, 1884 — **Holly**Arms of the name Holleys (Holly), as recorded in Burke’s *General Armory*, 1884Modern AI-assisted rendering from the recorded blazon; CC0.

Tudor Arms of the name Tudor (before 1485), as recorded in Rietstap’s Armorial général. Modern AI-assisted rendering after Odejea’s drawing, Wikimedia Commons; licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
Tudor, royal The royal arms of the House of Tudor, as recorded in Burke’s General Armory, 1884 (secondary). Modern AI-assisted rendering after Sodacan’s drawing, Wikimedia Commons; licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
Holly Arms of the name Holleys (Holly), as recorded in Burke’s General Armory, 1884. Modern AI-assisted rendering from the recorded blazon; CC0.

Heraldry recorded for these surnames in the old armorials. Arms belonged to particular families, not to a surname; none is known to have been granted to or borne by the ancestors on this page.

These shields are modern renderings made from the recorded blazon (AI-assisted), not photographs of historical objects.